Merry Christmas To All and To All A Good Night

Hello Folks,
I am going to be picked up by a taxi at 9:30 tonight and heading from here to Baku, Azerbaijan. I have the honor of staying in the airport all night until 7 AM when I will be flying to Istanbul, Turkey and then off to Chicago. My final flight will be to Asheville, NC where Maleika will be picking me up. It is all so hard to believe. I've been taking lots of Vitamin C and Airborne so that I will be the super healthy traveler.
Two months ago our school was getting so big that there was grand talk about buying another building with a swimming pool and gym for next year. I was so excited!! However, Shell Oil has backed out of bringing more families here because of the lack of good hospital care. It seems like everything started to snowball after that and so many parents are being transferred. I started with a class of 11 and now I am down to 6 students. The sad thing is that one of our teachers lost both of his students to a move to China, so he is out of a job.
Today, our last day before Christmas break, we had to say goodbye to many students and to Marc. It seemed like the end of the year instead of Christmas!
The good news is that I got offered another contract to teach at QSI for next year. After I put in 2 years I will be able to transfer to any QSI school that has an opening!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope everyone has a great Christmas break and a Happy New Year!!
Love and Peace, Rachel

The Pick Pocket Guy

How do I begin this story? I know enough to watch out for my money and things when I am traveling, but this afternoon I wasn't careful enough or not careful at all. I have been warned about Americans being targeted because everyone thinks anyone from America is rich. I always carry my backpack and was warned that their method is to cut the bottom of the pack and everything falls out without you knowing, so I craftily hid my cell phone and money in another smaller zippered place where that couldn't happen. Well, all the pick pocket guy had to do was open up the smaller zipper, put his hand inside, and take out my cell phone. And that is exactly what he did without me feeling a thing.
I really couldn't even get that upset - my cell phone wasn't that important to me. I just carried it around for emergencies and to contact the school staff. It was one of the cheaper phones without a camera on it - probably worth $80. The thing that was so sad that my phone was in a beautiful Kazakh purse that I got in Almaty. I also had a brand new phone card inside.
The story doesn't end there though, so put your feet up and relax.
A friend from school was shopping with me at the outside bazaar. I was buying something and just putting my money away in my little purse when 3 guys gathered around us. They were all smoking and there wasn't any room, so I got my purse put away and backed out of there. While I was standing there waiting for my friend to finish her shopping another clerk was talking to me in Russian and pointing to the group. I looked and my friend was asking me if I had some change, so I thought she was bringing my attention to that. (I found out later in this whole episode that she was trying to warn me about those 3 men)
Later on we were at another booth looking at some things and there were those 3 guys again. We left immediately, but it was too late. The deed had been done. As we were walking along one of the clerks that we had been at earlier found us and warned us about those guys. (My friend can speak some Russian.) That is when I checked my bag and noticed that the zipper was unzipped and my phone was gone.
I was just so thankful that he hadn't taken my money that I didn't get upset about my stolen phone, but my friend was furious at those guys.
We went to the inside bazaar and hooked up with Marc and Nick from our school and we told them about the 3 guys and the stolen phone. I then walked into a tiny candy store and Nick noticed 3 guys whispering and following me into the store. I didn't even see them because it was such a crowded space. Nick yelled at me asking me if those were the 3 guys and I recognized the one who had been right at my shoulder twice before.
Nick speaks some Russian and announced to the crowd that we needed help. Two of the guys disappeared, but the one guy just went outside and stood there. We (there was 4 of us) all went up to him and my friend asked him in Russian if we could pay him to get our phone back. He then asked her how much I would pay him to give it back. The deal never got finished because Nick saw a security guy and got him to come over.
The security guy grabbed the pick pocket guy and we all followed them back to the bazaar to this little office. The guard searched him and all he had on him was a brand new toothbrush and some Q-tips. I couldn't believe it! But the worse part was what came next. There was words spoken between them in Russian and then the guard grabbed him and pushed him hard against a table - so hard that the table leg came off. Then there was a struggle and 3 or 4 more guards came in. They got him on the floor and handcuffed him. We saw the pick pocket guy earlier scratching himself all over the neck as if to blame the guards. It was just not a pretty sight and it made my stomach feel sick.
We had to wait and wait and then 4 guards had us take them to the booth where it happened. I didn't think we would ever find the place, but we did. There were 3 different women there that testified in our behalf and could describe the other two guys.
They wouldn't let us leave until we could get a translator, so we had Dinara from school come over. It ended up that the guy was taken to the police station and we had the option of going to the police station and filing a report, but he warned us that it would be alot of trouble and take hours. None of us wanted to go through that. In fact we have all been warned not to get mixed up in any police action because there is so much corruption in the police department. We were actually all relieved that we didn't have to pay the guards. There were about 10 guards involved after the whole thing was over.
They have Dinara's number and will call her if they ever find my phone.
I guess it is a very stupid thing to wear a backpack in bazaars and one guard even asked Dinara why she would leave her friends alone at the bazaar?
A BIG LESSON LEARNED TODAY AT THE BAZAAR, BUT ON THE POSITIVE SIDE I DISCOVERED THAT I HAVE WONDERFUL FRIENDS THAT STOOD BY ME THROUGH THE WHOLE ORDEAL!!!

Thanksgiving in Kazakhstan

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, but the Muslims had a national holiday on Friday so we got the day off of school. All the school staff met at the director's house on Saturday for a big Thanksgiving meal. There was not one turkey in the whole town of Aktau, so we had stuffed chicken instead. It was delicious! This is the sun going down over the Caspian Sea right outside my window.







I got to have Thanksgiving with one of my students. Her mom works at our school. Isn't she beautiful? I was going to take a picture of the whole gang, but we got so full that everyone left and I realized too late that I had forgotten to take pictures.

I forgot to take a picture of all my pies before they were eaten. One whole pie was already gone. I also made a carrot ring with creamed peas inside. Nobody had ever had a carrot ring and it was a very popular dish. My mom always made carrot ring with peas. I remember when I was little she made it one holiday and forgot to put the carrots in. We all still loved it!

I invited one of our staff over to my house to help make pies. She had never made a pie before and after her husband had tasted one of mine he wanted her to take pie lessons. Here she is enjoying the blackberry pie bowl.

She is rolling out the crust for the first time. She did a great job. Her 7 year old daughter took this picture of us. I wish I could keep my eyes open and take better pictures.

The Cat Woman in Aktau

When I first arrived I started feeding one cat that always ran over to me and seemed so hungry. As the weeks went by I started feeding more cats and now my number is 8-9 every day. They are basically the same cats every day, but then I get a new one even cuter than ever that comes and joins the bunch. I have favorites that I would love to adopt and bring home with me, but I remember my experience in Korea with cats that destroyed my apartment and how I was heart broken when I had to leave them. The landlord who lived in my apartment had cats before I moved in and they were scratching up the brand new couches. I guess around here you don't have to have permission to move in pets. You just do it!!! I am so tempted, but I am also getting a big joy out of feeding my cats every day and evening. Now I am buying the big bags of cat food. The little gray striped cat that isn't eating in the back is one of my favorites.

There is only one cat that will let me pet it. It's the black one in the middle. The rest will come get my food, but will run away if I try to pet them. So in the afternoons when it is nice I hang out with them trying to get them used to listening to English. One great thing about feeding the cats is that I have gotten so many people that stop and talk to me - in Russian of course- but they seem very happy about seeing all the cats. Moms with their kids will stop, but it is mostly old ladies and a gentleman here and there. I don't think they hate cats like they did in Korea. I see elderly people carrying around sacks of bread crumbs that they leave for the cats. In fact one day I saw another woman back against the building feeding the cats. I'm happy that the cats don't have to just depend on me for their food, but to be truthful I felt like going up to her, hitting her with my bag of cat food and telling her to leave my cats alone. I hope you know that I am kidding.

Here's another spot that I find 3-5 cats every night. The gray one on the left finally let me pet her this morning. It was so much fun to see how she has learned to trust me. So I have had the best conversations with people because of the cats. I have a feeling that Iam considered a crazy woman by the looks I get when I first start calling, "Here kitty kitty."

This isn't about cats, but tonight in the grocery store I picked up 4 shallow boxes that are perfect for transporting pies, so I was carrying them home. I stopped at a small fruit market to buy a pumpkin to make pumpkin pies since there is no such thing as canned pumpkin in the store. (I read on the Internet that pumpkin was scare this year and people will be disappointed not having pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.) Well, I hope this pumpkin or whatever it is will make a delicious pie. Anyway as soon as I took those boxes in with me, the lady working there took them and threw them in a pile of her boxes. I tried to explain that I wanted those boxes, but she didn't understand. So I got some huge, sandy, muddy carrots and the pumpkin and then got the boxes and put them on the counter with me. The lady came over and took them away and threw them over in her boxes again. She was saying all this stuff in Russian that I didn't understand and then a few customers got involved and were saying things to her in Russian. So I paid for my veggies, went over and picked up the boxes and tried to go out the door. She was very friendly by now and was wanting to know my name and was telling me her name. I wasn't sure she was going to let me get out of the store, but she finally opened the door for me and let me go ( with my boxes). It was just a funny encounter. I wish I knew what she had been saying to me.

Our staff at school are going to have a big Thanksgiving meal on Saturday night. I plan to take mom's traditional carrot ring with creamed peas, and some pumpkin pies. And maybe some cheesecake if I get ambitious. There are no turkeys in Aktau, so we will be eating chicken. Yum! Yum! Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Love, Rachel

Mindfulness and Joy

Anybody might think that I had the most boring weekend, because I stayed in my apartment for 2 days - getting out only to run across the street to the grocery store. Maybe this is showing my age, but I had the most lovely time. I loved every minute of my weekend and still have four more hours to enjoy. I listened to a tape by Thich Nhat Hanh, reminding me about being mindful and cultivating awareness and joy in our lives. So everything I did I tried to do it in mindfulness and with joy.
My main project was making 9 animal tails out of fabric for a Christmas program our school will be putting on in a few weeks. Out of all my 30 years of teaching I don't think I have ever had to put on a Christmas program - the music teacher always did it. At QSI the Christmas program seems to be a pretty big deal. At first I was in a panic about what I should do and then I sprang into action. Luckily I had a book and tape with me on the Gingerbread Village and another cute song about the Cookie Snatcher. Since I'm really not a singer, this tape is going to save me big time. The older class is painting a background of a gingerbread village and I will hang up all the little gingerbread boys and girls my class made. When they start out they each will be holding their large gingerbread man that they painted. They are all so cute!! The third song is about running away from the gingerbread man, so each child is a different animal with a tail. Then we will sing the Hokey-Pokey so they can really show off and shake those tails.
One thing I have in my favor is that whatever the little kids do - it is always so cute!
We have been spending so much time practicing. I was so worried that the songs would be too hard for them to learn and nobody would sing, but now they know the words and actually yell them out instead of singing. Out of my nine students, three of them don't speak English so aren't learning the words very fast, three are so shy that they barely open their mouths, so that leaves me three singers.
This weekend I also paid some extra money, so I could get more English channels on my TV. I thought I couldn't take one more episode of Hannah Montana. Now I have 3-4 movie channels, but I sure miss my BC World News channel. Thich Nhat Hanh said on his tape that we turn on the TV and watch programs that we don't even like just to run away from being with ourselves. So maybe I shouldn't have paid more money on TV. I haven't had a chance to watch TV since the year before I went to Korea, so I must admit that I love turning it on in the evenings. Bad, bad, bad girl!
And I also used my treadmill for the first time and lifted some weights. Maybe that will make up for watching too much TV. Everything needs a balance I guess.
I also got into reading a great book that I couldn't put down and stayed up Saturday night reading until 1:00 in the morning. It was delightful!
Friday night I was so tired that I went to bed at 8 PM. I shouldn't admit this to anyone, but I didn't wake up on Saturday until 11:30 AM. I must have been tired. It was also delightful!
I hope everyone had a great weekend also. Talk to you again soon.
Love, Rachel

I am still safe and sound in Atkau. I had a new student for 7 days that turned my sweet teaching job upside down. I knew within the first half hour that he was a special needs child, somewhere on the autism spectrum. I will call him Dustin to protect the innocent. (If I had a boy I wanted to name him Dustin, but I will never know if the name would have passed or not.) Both Dinara and I were exhausted around noon of every day. Dustin needed one-on-one constantly - he had no clue how to sit on the rug without falling over on another student, he was always running into students and knocking them down, pushing, pinching, punching, crying, and making loud noises. He was bigger than any of my students, so could easily knock down 3 of them at playtime with one run! He would make a great football player. I put him in a time-out chair whenever he did the above and he HATED that chair, so I was wrenching my back trying to get him to his chair. His favorite thing was just flopping down and refusing to do anything.
The biggest mystery was that his parents claimed that he he has been in preschools since he was one year old and nobody ever had a problem with him. I guess they wanted me to believe that the minute Dustin took one look at our classroom he decided to try out all these new behaviors. My director set up a meeting with the parents, but they came a few days early and we hadn't really worked out a plan yet. So when the parents came I took out a piece of paper to write down a special plan for Dustin and within 15 minutes Dustin was withdrawn from the school. The director said something about our school not having special facilities for children like Dustin and the family decided to move on. They claimed that nobody had even mentioned that he had special needs. Anyway, I should have felt relieved, but Dustin had already gotten into my heart and I thought I could make a difference with him. However, in the meantime, my class was starting to imitate some of his behaviors. It is really nice to be back to my sweet class again.
I went to a Russian Christian church for the first time today with Nick. He told me that there are 4 Christian churches in town. Two of them are held in people's home. Also, one of them had been closed down by the government and had to meet in secret. I couldn't understand a word of the sermon, but Nick was trying to translate as best as he could. I enjoyed listening to the music and the beauty of a different language.
On Saturday our group went to the new bazaar on the city bus. I call it the yellow bazaar. I could go every weekend. I just love the atmosphere at city markets. I got myself a long sought out dish drainer rack, a few Kazakh traditional things, and some fabric to make tails for my students for the Christmas program.
So my life may seem boring to you this week, but everyday I get one or two more smiles.
Love, Rachel

Apples Are From Kazakhstan / My Birthday

I just finished the book, Apples Are From Kazakhstan, that Megan gave me for a present as soon as she heard I was heading to KZ. I got blogged down with so much history, but it is worth the read if you want to know more about Kazakhstan. I just want to quote a few paragraphs. There has been lots of sad history in this area. They only received their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
"Kazakhstan might have been independent, but it was also very much alone. The country had been left with all the old creaking Soviet institutions but with no plans or money to replace them.
Life in Kazakhstan remained grim for years after independence, as the country went through the painful transformation from one economic system to another. Under the Soviets everyone had at least the basics for life-suddenly there was nothing. Nothing in the shops and no money. No money to pay teachers, no money for students. Old people didn't receive their pensions for a year at a time. Every day the rouble fell 5 - 10%. Inflation was so bad that industrial production just shut down. And as paper money became worthless, people bought everything to hoard - sugar, salt, canned goods. And that meant there were even greater shortages. The whole country was reduced once again to a barter system - I'll give you a sheep for gasoline. Agriculture collapsed. There was zero construction - not a crane was working in the whole of Kazakhstan."

After reading all this tragic history, it is hard to transition into talking about my birthday. Here in Kazakhstan there is a tradition that the person having the birthday is the one who brings the cake and puts on a party, so it was up to me to decide what I wanted for my birthday. I spent weeks thinking about it and decided to make a carrot cake on my birthday day to share with the school staff and then on Saturday I would invite everyone over for a lasagna supper.
When making something from an American recipe, I always spend days trying to find all the ingredients. This time the challenge was cream cheese for the icing. They have cream cheese, but it comes in all flavors and I wanted plain. After buying several brands and getting home and discovering it had garlic in it, I had Dinara write PLAIN CREAM CHEESE in Russian.
I went to a store and showed a clerk the note. She just pointed to the back of the store and went on her way. Went I got to the counter I could not tell which one was the plain type so I asked another clerk. She yelled out a name and here comes the first clerk I had asked. She was NOT a happy camper. She seemed so put out with me that it almost brought tears to my eyes. I finally bought 2 containers. That night while making the frosting I saw specks of stuff in the cream cheese which turned out to be bacon. (The frosting was too runny, so I kept adding more cream cheese and powdered sugar - another hard to get ingredient - until I had a HUGE bowl of frosting.)
The cake was labeled absolutely delicious by all the staff, but the sad part was that a Muslim teacher and her two girls ate the cake and they are not allowed to eat pork. They were not upset with me, but had to do alot of praying for forgiveness.
I had so much frosting left over that I decided to bake another kind of cake for my birthday dinner.
On Friday night I went over to my usual place to exchange money and she wasn't open, so it spoiled my big plan of getting the last minute things I needed. I only had enough money to buy ingredients for the cake. This one I found on the Internet and was called Death by Chocolate.
On Saturday I jumped out of bed in a panic. I realized that I needed 2 pans of lasagna with 15 people coming over, so I needed to buy another pan. The money changer was AGAIN not there, so I had to walk to find another one. Life was seeming so hard at this point, but I kept walking.
I did finally get my money changed and then ending up having to go to 3 places to get what I needed. I got home and started cooking like crazy. The most crazy part was that I decided to make some blackberry pies along with the chocolate cake.
I just had this energy and baked all afternoon. The dinner turned out to be delicious according to everyone. The husbands of the Kazakh ladies all wanted me to teach their wives how to bake lasagna and pies.
When I first saw my apartment I had this vision of people dancing in my huge living room, so I had gotten a tape with rock and roll music using bean bags from school. I was throwing everyone a bean bag and made everyone get up and dance. It was really fun dancing around to the old 60's twist music. After the first group of people left I came back and said, "Now we have the wild ones left." They all laughed and told me that the wild one was the person that lived here. At midnight the last guest left and I felt I had a wonderful birthday.
On Sunday I couldn't believe it. I crashed! I slept until 11:00, ate breakfast, did a few things, and then took a 3 hour nap. I guess I'm not as wild as everyone thinks. I just hope I can get to sleep tonight.
Thanks to all of you out there on Face Book that sent me birthday wishes and to the ones who didn't. Oh, here it is the custom to give wishes to the birthday person. The parents of my kids gave me the sweetest wishes. One father from Turkey wished that I would have all the love that I ever needed for the rest of my life. I certainly feel loved.

Solve the Mystery

I have mentioned on and off about my landlord and cleaning lady. As far as I know they are the only ones that have keys to my apartment. The cleaning lady used to come on Monday and every Monday when I got home my TV had been set to Russian and I couldn't get my few stations in English. Sometimes when I would push every button on both remotes I would get it figured out. But the next Monday it would be back again in Russian. Well, the landlord came to school one day because he wanted an advance on 3 months rent because he said he was going to London. My director usually doesn't give advances, but he ended up paying him for the 3 months rent. I translated to him about my problem with the TV and he just smiled and actually said "cleaning lady" in English. He told me that he would be over that Friday to fix it. I got home on Friday and found the TV still not working, but I knew he had been there because he had eaten one of my prized plums! On Saturday I unopened my door and the computer (not my personal computer) had been left on and the TV was working.
Going backwards in my story ---- right before I went to Almaty for the workshop I had $300 saved up to take with me. I had even asked the other staff how much money they were taking and found out $300 was a good amount. When I went to the drawer to get the money I only had $200. I tried not to freak out, because I could have made a mistake, but I keep track of my budget on a piece of paper and it also showed that I hadn't spend that $100. I let it go.
Then right after the landlord ate my plum I looked in my bright green envelope that had $92 in small bills and there was only $42 and I know for 100% certainty that I hadn't spent it.
So someone had been looking through all my things to find that money.
I went to my director, Art, and he was so angry and upset for me. And the other staff all were so angry too. It was so weird because I felt more angry at the loss of my plum than the money. I kept wondering what was the manner with me that I couldn't get angry???????
Anyway, the landlord was called and he blamed it on the cleaning lady and said nothing like this had ever happened before. He called the cleaning lady and told her to bring my keys to school. Well, she never came and when I got home she was there cleaning my apartment. She had gotten the call about the missing money and in Russian she was trying to tell me that she didn't take it. I got Dinara on the phone to translate and she was pleading her innocence. I didn't have the heart to fire her because I believed her. I had already felt like it was my landlord, because if he could have eaten my plum he was sure capable of stealing money. So I ended up getting the key from her and she comes when I am home. This week when she came I found out that the landlord has not paid her and she can't get ahold of him.
So who do you think is the thief?

History of Aktau Area

This area used to be covered by ocean, so even in the hot, dry steppe you find seashells. These seashells are used to make bricks and buildings. I was taking notes so fast, but I think she said that Kazakhstan has the largest collection of these seashells. This is a brick I found that was made out of the seashells.

This is part of Sherkala, the mountain that we saw. There was another cave that was much harder to get up into. The adults were running up the front as fast as they could, trying to get a foothold, but came sliding back down again. Finally a couple of teachers got up and were holding out their hands to help up others. I was one of the last ones. It looked so easy, but I couldn't make it far enough before I slide back down again. I flung off my coat and got ready for another run. I told the group that my mind felt like a teenager and this should be easy, but my body was telling me another thing. I finally made it up and got lots of cheering.

Here is Sherkala mountain. There is so much history here. This was an ideal spot for a tribe to live because it had a wall around it and you could see the enemy coming. There is also water in this area. So lots of battles were fought and lots of blood lost. These are graves that mark the battleground.

A closer view of one of the graves. The tour guide has been giving tours of this area for 23 years and all the stories were just speculation until a few years ago when they started digging and discovered proof of the ancient civilization. She said she cried the first time she went out and saw the men finding pottery and tools.

Heartbeat of a Camel

On our field trip we walked through the hot, dry steppe and out of nowhere appeared this green oasis with a stream flowing through it. Years ago nomadic tribes fought for this land. Now they have built an entrance with this figure. We all got out to eat our lunch in the shade, but had to share our picnic spot with cows. We were all told to bring a lunch and so all the Americans brought a lunch for themselves. The two teachers from Kazakhstan brought the traditional picnic - enough food for everyone. Bringing your lunch to them meant sharing everything they had, while we all had our individual sandwiches. I love the Kazakh picnic much more!

This is a picture of the gas station that we stopped at to fill up our bus. I thought it was so rustic and then the bright red car drove up ruining my picture. But I decided that it is neat showing the old ways and the new car.

I took this through the bus window and was amazed that I got the picture of the camel along the road. This looks like a little village, but it is a cemetery. I would love to go explore it someday.

I know you see old trucks of hay in any state in the US, but look how old that truck is.

Oh, my gosh, I have fallen in love with the camels. Do you get that excited feeling when you see a deer? That's how I feel whenever I see a camel, but in a bigger way. Everyone laughs at my excitement, but I sure haven't experienced camels before. The teachers didn't want me or the school kids to get too close, because nobody can guess the nature of a camel. These camels were at a feeding station and we noticed that their front two legs were tied together. Earlier I had seen one lone camel running as fast as it could across the steppe. I

wish I could have figured out what it was running from or where it thought it was going and why it was in such a hurry.

Halloween in Kazakhstan

There is no Halloween in Kazakhstan or maybe I should say Aktau. One mother told me that on New Years they celebrate and dress up in costumes, but not on Halloween.
I am so glad that I brought stories and songs about pumpkins from the US. None of my kids had ever been to a pumpkin patch and there is NO farm land around Aktau to have a pumpkin patch. Every year I have taken the class to the pumpkin patch and had a big Pumpkin Day, so I was very disappointed. However, I was determined to have Pumpkin Day with or without pumpkins. I was delighted when a dad told me that he would bring in a few pumpkins. When he saw my expression he said, "Don't get too excited. They will be ugly pumpkins." And they were indeed ugly - not an orange pumpkin at all and very hard and bumpy. The other US teachers came in to see and just started laughing and taking pictures of the Russian pumpkins. We had so much fun with our 2 pumpkins. I divided the class into 2 groups and we completed a little book about our pumpkin. We counted the lines, drew pictures, figured out the color (light green/gray), cut strings to measure around the pumpkin, and then I cut the top so we could take all the seeds out. I broke the knife. I could barely cut through the hard shell. I was sweating when I finally got the top off. The kids went wild! I have never seen such a thick pumpkin. No wonder I couldn't get the top off. The seeds were beautiful - big and brown. I had planned to have the kids take turns drawing the face, but there was no way I was going to try and cut out the face. I just had them take turns painting a face on it.
Earlier that morning we had done a pumpkin sequence project with 3 of the older classes helping each one of my kids. (It took 3 classes to have enough students to pair up with my 9 kids.) If any kindergarten or first grade teacher from Stanwood, WA is reading this you will know the project I am talking about. We started out painting 2 paper plates orange. I used the last of the paper plates which are impossible to find here. I wish I had hoarded more at the beginning, because I ran out and some kids had to paint styrofoam plates. Don't ever do that!! The paint chips and curls away and leaves a mess! Can you imagine that paper plates have to be ordered from the US? I am bringing a stack back with me at Christmas and everybody better stay away from my stash!!!!! I'm smiling when I'm saying that, but I am also serious!!
I do have a fall break and decided to save money and hang out here for the week. Everyone was telling me that on Monday a cold front was coming in and it would be 0 degrees. I wouldn't believe it! It couldn't change from our sunny days to 0 degrees just like that. Just today I realized that it was 0 degrees C. which is 32 F, so now I am a believer.
I have spent the last 2 days of my vacation stressing out about money to buy my Christmas ticket home. I have the money sitting in my US bank and am finding it impossible to get at. I had a big meltdown about it and felt so ashamed of myself especially after watching the world news and seeing all the starving people in Ethiopia. And here I am crying because I can't get money out of my account. Two credit cards put my account at risk when they found out that I was in Kazakhstan and closed down all my credit. Not one penny will they give me!!! I have always depended on my debit card and since I haven't used it for 3 months I TOTALLY forgot the pin #. You can't believe how I wracked my brain for 2 days and then finally gave up and had to call home and get another card sent. Anyway, enough of my problems. I ended up buying one section of my ticket and will get the other later.
Happy Halloween to all of you. Celebrate for me. Love, Rachel

Oil Fields of Kazakhstan

Aktau is known for its oil fields and all kinds of oil companies have moved families here. Most of my school children have parents who work for the oil companies. I was excited about seeing the oil fields and their big fancy operations. It was really surprising to see miles of fields with these old-fashioned, charming oil drills. The pipes are all underground.

















The first oil gush happened in 1961.
They built this monument in the spot where the first gusher was found. The tour guide was so embarrassed by all the broken glass around the monument. She said she is ashamed when she brings expats to see historic sites and there is broken glass and garbage around. The red structure on the top represents the yurts the nomads lived in and represents the unity of families.



















Miles and miles of oil fields! In 1995 Kazakhstan didn't have enough money to develop, so they got grants from Europe. They got awards for doing such a good job. Aktau now has 3 sea docks for oil tankers to take the oil to other countries. They are huge opportunities for Aktau to grow. When the city was first built it was very primitive and they only built it to last for 10 years or so. The developers had no idea the city would grow so fast. That is why lots of buildings are already falling apart - because they were not made to last!

The land in Kazakhstan is called steppe. We went for 3 hours and saw nothing but dry brown steppe that is different from a desert. I need to look up the differences on the Internet, because it sure looks like a desert to me. (But not Jamara's Arizona desert with all the beautiful cactus)

This is Dinara, the assistant in our classroom. She organized the trip and was a great Russian translator. She is so sweet and calls me Ms. Rachel.

This is me overlooking Karaglye, the deepest depression in Kazakhstan. I am so thankful that Marcy gave me her coats and sweaters when she left town, because I had mine packed but took them out of my suitcase because of the weight.

I took this picture for my sister Rose because she loves rocks.

This is Medina who works at my school as the business manager. She knows both Russian and English, so she is a huge support system for doctor appointments, travel agents, etc. I wish I could flip the picture around

T

This picture got on here twice I believe, but I don't know how to delete it at this point. I meant to have a picture of Dinara and me at the depression.

I finally got the picture of my lovely outhouse on my blog.

First Experience with Kazakhstan Outhouse

This is the picture of the outhouse at Karaglye with the sun shining in the background. (A photographer's no-no) It is times like this that I am so fortunate to not have 100% smelling abilities. I was also very happy that I had my own toilet paper in my pocket. I walked in and found boards nailed down over the huge hole, with a board missing where you had to squat. It actually wouldn't have been so bad since I was used to Kentucky and Iowa outhouses, but so many people had missed the hole. It was very disgusting as you can imagine, but there was no other choice at this stop.
This is crazy. Now my computer won't let me add this picture.

Field Trip to Karaglye

Marc and Nick from my school created a great field trip on Saturday with their classes and I got to go along. Marc has 2 teenage twins from China and they both came along and Nick's ten year old student came with his dad. This family is from the Netherlands with blonde, blonde hair. The bus was one of the old city buses and a tour guide who spoke Russian showed us all the sites. Dinara, my assistant, did most of the translating with help from Medina, our school's business manager who is from Russia. We all set off merrily for our 12 hour adventure, even though all of us had to set our alarms for around 5:00 AM.
I have heard so many bus stories in oversea countries where you take your life in your hands when you head out on the curvy roads and crazy drivers, so I had no idea what to expect. Well, this driver was very smart and had a curtain behind him so that nobody could see the road ahead and the roads were definitely not curvy in the 7 hour ride. However, the bus was so old and noisy and bumpy that you had to hold on while trying to talk to anybody. The transmission sounded like it was going to go out any second, making horrible screeching and grinding sounds whenever he sift the gears. We had a few hills to climb and the bus would almost come to a stop it was going so slow and the driver seemed to be frantically shifting the gears back and forth. Anytime someone seemed to be on the verge of throwing out food in the trash, I would say, "No, save it!! We might be sleeping on this bus tonight and want it for supper."
It turned out to be a wonderful trip and I am so glad that I went even though I am exhausted today. It was perfect weather and I found out so many amazing things about this area. First of all Aktau is the youngest city in the whole of Kazakhstan. It is only 46 years old. It was built by Russian prisoners (mostly people that were against the Communist government). The guide told us a story about how the prisoners were given a certain amount of water each day and they had to give it up to use it to make cement. The water from the Caspian Sea had too much salt to make cement apparently.
All these pictures are of Karaglye, the deepest depression in Kazakhstan. It is the 5th deepest depression in the world. It is one of the Wonders of Kazakhstan. In America it would have been turned into a tourist trap with entrance fees, huge parking lots, souvenir shops, and restaurants. This place was only identified with a Russian sign that translated into Deepest Depression. There was only one shabby building that was closed, an outhouse, and no cars in the gravel parking lot.

Weekend in Almaty

I had so much fun in Almaty this weekend. Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan and used to be the capital city. The first difference I noticed from the plane was all the greenery and trees and the mountains. My city of Aktau is flat and dry for miles. All the rumors I had heard about Aktau were basically true, but I wasn't warned about the awful pollution and the traffic. First of all Aktau is by the sea so there is no air pollution and Almaty's traffic makes our traffic seem mild. The drivers there do whatever they want. Everyone is always in a hurry and if there is a delay, cars will drive over the sidewalk and drive down the tram lane. There were 3 lanes of traffic squeezed into 2 lanes and once a car was driving down the wrong side of the street. They sit and honk at anything, even at red lights. I met some expats(foreigners) who actually havecars that they drive in that mess. They say there is no way you can drive talking on cell phone or drinking a coffee. You have to be alert every second and BE READY! I guess that is the way we should all drive.
The conference kept us busy from 8:30 - 5:30 so we had to squeeze everything into the evening slot.
I was staying with a gal named Wendy from New Zealand. She was a night owl and I kept up with her the whole time. We didn't get to bed until after 1:00 the first 2 nights. I usually go to bed around 9:00 or sometimes earlier so I was really stretching myself. The first night we went shopping at the big Mega Center. I had heard that everything was cheaper in Almaty, so was really disappointed to find that the prices weren't that different. I did find taco shells, some lasagne noodles, lots of good-spelling spices, molasses,vegetable broth, and olive paste.
The next night we took a cab to the foot of Cockabay (I don't know how to spell this word in Russian) and climbed the lighted trail up the mountain. They have a big bronze statue of the Beatles because they played in Russia during the start of their music career. Wendy took a picture of me with my two coworkers, Nick and Marc.
They had lots of stalls with Kazakh products and I was in heaven shopping for Christmas items. We then went to a Bar and Grill and I ordered a milkshake from the English menu. I was so excited since I haven't had much icecream since leaving the states. Well, in Kazakhstan a milkshake means just that. They take chocolate milk, shake it up until it is frothy, add some whipped cream and serve it lukewarm. It was a huge disappointment!
One time while walking to get a cab, I took this picture of a man walking his cow down the sidewalk. He didn't seem very happy at first when I was trying to get his permission to take a picture, but then he gave me a great big smile.
The last 3 pictures are just ones that I took from the window of a cab when we returned to Aktau. On the way to the airport we had seen about 10 camels crossing the highway, but my camera was packed in my bag. So on the way home the boys let me sit in the front seat so I could get a picture of the camels. Of course, the camels weren't roaming around when I had my camera ready.
I hope everyone had a good weekend. May our thoughts be with all the people who experienced the natural disasters recently. I saw pictures on Wendy's TV and was totally overwelmed with the suffering happening around the world.
Love, Rachel

Acupuncture Anyone?

The first picture is the front door of a Chinese doctor who does acupuncture. I have always thought it would be cool to try acupuncture, but after passing this office everyday I'm not sure I would have nerve to step inside. In the back yard there are lots of herbs going in a fenced area. However, there is a big black dog that runs in the garden and in one corner is all the dog's poop piled up in a big pile. Is this part of the medicine?
The next picture is of the apartments right next to our school. They are the ones that make me wonder about my nice apartment and what it would be like to live in one of their apartments.
The last 3 pictures are of my QSI school. It is painted my favorite color. There are beautiful flowers in the entry way. Every QSI school in Kazakhstan envies our playground equipment, because we are the only school that has this huge playground adventure. My kids love it!!!!! An oil company that requested an international school be opened in Aktau paid for it. It is quite fancy. Yesterday I watched a little neighbor boy standing at the fence peering in. I knew he would love to come in and play with my kids. I was so tempted to let him in to play, but I knew I would get in big trouble. I had to turn my back so I couldn't see his little face anymore. When I turned around later he was still there.

Rescue on the Caspian Sea

I was doing my usual weekend floater activity on the sea where I hang on to a bouy and enjoy the relaxing waves. Saturday when I was blowing up the floater with a foot pump that Marc found for me, a Russian speaking guy about my age came over and started talking. When he realized that I couldn't speak Russian we communicated in sign language. I was telling him that, yes, I was going to take the floater out on the water. He walked back and forth on the beach the whole time I was blowing it up and then was standing there when I went out into the water. (Everyone around here claims the water is cold, but I sure don't mind the temperature!) He laughed and laughed while I was getting on the floater and then I sailed away to my bouy. I was hoping he would be around when I got back and I would let him get on the floater, but he was gone.
The waves were stronger and I was being bounced around so it wasn't the most relaxing thing in the world. I was out there for a long time enjoying the sun and decided to go back in. Right then 2 little sailboats with boys of about 8 or 9 years old sailing them. It looked like fun - maybe I should try that. I was talking to them, but could only understand the word Kazakhstan. I told them I was from America and they got a kick out of that and repeated America several times. I noticed that they were circling closer and closer to me and I couldn't figure out what they were doing. At first I thought maybe they were going to try and make me fall off my floater, but then I saw that they were throwing a rope to me. I didn't know what they wanted, but I grabbed the rope and they started to pull me towards the shore. Then it turned into this funny story. They were rescusing me!!!! The little sail boat really couldn't pull me and I yelled, "I think I am too heavy." The little boy smiled and nodded Yes, but I'm sure he didn't know what I said. Then he got his friend to pull his sailboat up next to his and he jumped out of his boat and stood on the front holding on to the two masts and away we went. It was like a slow motion version of being pulled by a big motorboat. They pulled me almost to shore and I let go of the rope and they headed off waving and smiling after all my thank yous. They probably went home feeling like heroes and are writing a story in school tomorrow how they rescued this elderly crazy American lady who was desperately hanging on to a bouy way out in the Caspian Sea.

The Forbidden Sheets

Luxury in Kazakhstan

A Sweet Day at the Caspian Sea

Dear Folks,
The Caspian Sea is saving me from the hardships of adjusting to a new culture. Marc told me about a nicer beach with whiter sand and no rocks. He was so kind to meet me about noon and walk me to this new beach. He had even found one of those foot pumps to blow up my floater. This floater of mine is sure a deluxe model and has been worth every penny. This beach was right by the boat club, so there were boats in the water and an empty buouy for me to hang on to so that I won't float to Iran.
I am just in heaven hanging out on my floater in the water. It was a beautiful day and when I closed my eyes I could imagine easily being back at McKee's Beach on my floater. There was a boat playing some decent music, some sailboats to watch, a gal water skiing, some guys rowing a blown up boat, the lapping waves, and a beautiful sun. Who would know that I was in Kazakhstan??
Marc ended up heading home and I just hung out on the beach, laying on my floater to get all the air out and soaking up the sun.
Marc had told me about this group of people on the beach that were doing this crazy thing of trying to build a fire without any firework, so they were trying to pull branches off of the little trees along the beach. He could just see them wrecking the trees and we both agreed that it was a STUPID thing to do.

When I was leaving the beach, I passed this group of people having a picnic with their little fire going. I looked their way and the only girl in the group of 7 guys said hello to me. We started talking and she asked me to join them. One of the guys was having a birthday party. The blanket was all spread out and in the middle was a huge platter of potatoes,carrots, and meat which had been cooking on the fire. She had homemade bread and everyone was dipping their bread in the potatoes. It was absolutely delicious! She had also made this salad out of tomatoes and cucumbers which reminded me of something I used to make back in Kentucky with cucumbers. They also had a big platter of sliced meat. The girl's name was Venus and she did all the translating for us. They wanted to know so many things about me. Whenever I said something and Venus translated they all laughed and were so friendly.

I told the group that I didn't think the people in Aktau were very friendly. I told them how I try to smile at people and then I demonstrated what their faces (the people on the street) looked like. They got a kick out of that! When they understood what I was saying, they all started talking at once. They were naming other towns where the people were very friendly. Venus agreed with me about the people here. She said that they have many problems and they look down at the sidewalk all the time thinking about their problems.

Actually, I am starting to get more and more smiles. One guy said that he saw me walking to work every morning. I told him that I hoped I was on my best behavior. He just laughed. Then I found out that he was a soldier guarding the streets and I said, "Wow, I better be on my best behavior." More rounds of laughter. You would have thought I was some movie star or something! Venus told me there were many beautiful places to see in Aktau (which was hard for me to believe) and she wants to take me to see some of them next weekend. She knew all about my school. She used to work there I guess, so she is going to call Art and give him her telephone information so I can get in touch with her. I left feeling so happy that I had made some friends even though they were trying to kill a tree.

On the way home I stopped at three different markets to get the last ingredients for my big lasagne dinner tonight. I got home around 8PM and had so much energy that I made 3 pies....two mixed berry pies and one huge apple pie made in a huge glass baking dish because I didn't have a pie plate. Wanda's secret ingredient for the best pie crust around is an egg and a t.of vinegar. Nick had told me that you really had to be careful of the vinegar they sell because you have to dilute it otherwise it will burn a hole in your stomach and could kill you. So here I am with this bottle of vinegar (70%) trying to decide how to make a pie crust without killing everyone off. I just used a few drops and hoped for the best. I couldn't get the image of everyone keeling over after eating the pie, so I decided to eat some before I went to bed. The crust was really not that great and I could taste the raw sugar, but with ice cream it wasn't too bad. I didn't die during the night so I guess I will serve the pies tonight.

I have to go to start making the lasagne. I'll let you know how that turns out. I love all of you. Love, Mom Rachel

Buying Bread in Aktau

Dear Loved Ones,
It is truly an experience buying bread in this town. Every little grocery store has a bread section, but also there are small stands on the street and in the bazaars that sell bread. The bread is never wrapped. I walked into the grocery store and was just standing in awe in the bread section. Bread was just thrown on the shelves without any wrapping. There was also a grocery cart of loaves of bread just thrown in all piled up. I've never seen anything like it. I couldn't even imagine where to start. Then 2 young boys came over and I watched them take a plastic sack, turn it upside down over their hand, and then they started to feel all the bread. So I got a plastic sack and started feeling all the bread - hard, hard, hard! Then I went to the grocery cart and felt that bread. It was warm - right out of the oven. The boys didn't know any English, so I motioned them over very excitedly to the warm bread. So they were buying the warm bread, I was putting the warm bread in my sack, and then a man came over and started to buy the bread. I told the boys, " See, this must be the best bread here!" It was cute how they laughed and then got out of there as soon as they could.
It is just hard to find simple things here that we just take for granted back home. If I need something back home, I just make a list and go get it. Job is done! Here I have to look and look trying to figure out what is in the packages. Then I look in another store. Then I head to the bazaars. Finally, I have gotten a list of Russian names for the most common items, but still it is hard to find things. Sugar is never near the flour. It is sold in a plastic bag. It is a fun challenge trying to find things, but it also can be exhausting.
I decided to make lasagna and invite the school crew over. I also am going to make some pies. I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to find the ingredients. I've gone all over town to get different items. It is unbelieveable, but I even found my favorite ingredient - pesto for $6. I paid $18 just to buy a pan to bake the lasagna. There is no ricotta cheese and their cottage cheese doesn't look anything like the cottage cheese I am used to. It will be fun to see how it all turns out.
I met Marcy from Texas who has lived here for 14 months. She shipped all her stuff over here and is so willing to share. She gave me some baking powder which is a huge gift. She also gave me some Italian spices from Costco and other spices. I wish I had known her when I was making the gingerbread cookies.
I was trying to put on more pictures, following my directions exactly. It is not working and I am in such a sweat that I gave up. It was so easy last time.
There was a huge excitment here last week. The president of Russia and the 3 countries that surround the Caspian Sea made a stop in Aktau to talk about expanding the oil business. Workers worked all night trying to finish up the sidewalks. I thought the President was going to be walking down the sidewalk or something. I know all the streets were going to be closed down. We didn't think many of the kids would be in school because of the traffic problems, but it turned out to be just an ordinary day. The only thing I saw different were the amount of policemen on the streets when I walked home that day! I must have missed it!
Remember when I had a back ache the first few days of school? Dinara blamed it on the air conditioner. Since then I have been told that they blame all colds on airconditioners, fans, leaving the window open at night, or drinking ice water. I came down with a cold last week and Dinara told me it was from my ice water. Thank goodness I had brought some Airborne with me. I think I kicked it this weekend. Every weekend so far I have gone swimming in the Caspian Sea, but I just stayed home the whole weekend trying to get better. I would have loved to go swimming, but I know how cold the water is.
Be good everybody. Love, Rachel

Dear Folks,
I've been saving up some of your questions. #1. What is the weather like there? On my blog it seems like it stays around 76 - 82 F. Rebecca wrote and said they were having the same weather in Iowa - chilly and rainy. I had to laugh because it is not chilly and rainy here. It just seems hot and dry here. It has only rained once since I got here and everyone seemed surprised because it doesn't usually rain in September. I usually get through the school day without the air conditioner, but if I had my druthers I would have it on all day. The first thing I do when I get home is turn on the air. It is starting to get darker and chilly at 6:45 AM when I walk to school, but on the way home I get very heated up.
#2. What is the sea like? I haven't taken any pictures yet, because everytime I have gone I'm in my swimming gear and don't want my camera hanging out on the beach while I am in the water. People say that the water is too cold to go swimming, but I think it is perfect. I went back to buy that $20 floater that I found. I was definitely on a mission to buy that floater. I walked into the store and the whole wall display had been changed and the floater was nowhere to be found. I tried not to panic. I took out my little Russian-English dictionary and looked up the word for floater. It didn't have the word floater. That is the most important word in the English language and it wasn't in the book !!!!!!! I then found water - asked the girl and pointed to where the floater had been a few days before. She caught on and brought out the deluxe model for $25. I really wanted the other one, but couldn't get her to understand so bought the deluxe model. I went down to the sea and found the water and beach almost empty. Lots of people were hanging out on the pier and I'm sure they got their entertainment for the day. First, it took me forever to blow that thing up. I was trying to stand in the water, but the waves kept crashing around me and I had to go sit on the beach. The first time I swam in the sea it was nice and calm, but the last two times it has been windy and choppy. I couldn't get on the floater for the life of me. I tried to get on before the next wave hit, but it always swept me right off of it. Several times the floater flew right out of my hands and I had to chase it to the beach. Finally I just laid over it and went surfing the waves. I was having so much fun! I did finally get on it, but it wasn't a very peaceful ride. I kept getting thrown onto the beach. I'm glad I couldn't hear what people were saying about the crazy lady in the water.
People at work tell me there is glass in the Sea and that the city empties the sewage in the Sea. However, I have found it very clean. I try not to drink any of it though.
#3 Has anyone smiled at you yet?
Yes, I have gotten some smiles. I realized that maybe I just don't look that foreign to them, so they might think I'm just a crazy local smiling at everyone. Maybe I'm kidding myself. Maybe I really look foreign. There are just lots of people here that look American or Caucasion and many others that look Asian. There is such a mix. I need to start taking pictures of the people here.
#4. Are the kids cute and happy? I love my preschool class! They are adorable and well behaved for what I was expecting. They call me Ms. Rachel and it sounds so cute. Their favorite thing to say is, "I'm finished. I'm finished. I'm finished" and that usually means that they got their name written on their work. Today one little girl told me that her stomach was tired. I'd give anything to have more of my school stuff with me. I spend alot of time making things and going on the internet for ideas! We are now doing color days where we all wear a certain color to school. I went out and bought a yellow shirt just to have something to wear for Yellow Day! It was so cute when they all dressed in red yesterday. Not one person forgot to wear red!
My 11 children are from the following countries: Turkey, Russian Federation, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Portugal, Hungary, USA, and Lao Peoples Democrat. I have some beautiful skin colors in my room.
That's all for now! Love, Rachel

I got this picture thing figured out. Now I can download pictures on my own computer. Maybe now I will be more excited about taking pictures.
This is only about half of my huge bedroom. You can barely see the refrigerator over to the right. It is an extra one and I know I will never use it. I can't even keep my kitchen refrigerator full. The door leads to my jucuzzi. There is another door that leads to my bathroom. You can see the huge wardrobe. I couldn't possibly fill that up.


This is a picture of the entry room. The door to the left leads into the dining room and living room and kitchen. The door to the right leads into the bedroom. The couches are covered with blankets, but they are leather couches. The computer set up is back to the right. There is also another bathroom with shower that you can't see in this picture.

Here is my lost treadmill. I'm sure you have never seen one of these before. I also have a small electric fireplace and a space for my ironing board. This is part of the living room.

I took this looking out my window on the 14th floor. Pictures of all the leaders of the Soviet Union and Kazakhstan are painted on these buildings.

I look at these pictures often and try to read their faces. Is there any sign of kindness in those faces? What kind of leaders were they? I might have to do some research.

You can see how close the Caspian Sea is to my apartment.

This program only lets me put 5 pictures on at a time, so until next time have a wonderful life.

Love, Rachel